Maybe I'll Never Hear You Say I Love You
by SixWeeks
Summary: Nicholas Duval is 100% deaf, and has never been close to too many people, but after boarding at Dalton, he meets his best friend. Someone who makes his heart sing and he can swear that it's beautiful. Niff.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Okay, so this first AN here is gonna be pretty important, so I hope people read it. I'd just like to say that as a person with full hearing, all of my knowledge about deafness and sign language comes from the volunteering I do telling stories to kids at the elementary school for deaf children in my city. I'll try to keep as accurate as possible regarding what it's like and how it feels to be deaf, but if I write anything that you feel is blatantly wrong or offensive (which I don't think I will/really hope I won't), then please feel free to message me and I'll correct myself immediately. The only change I'm consciously making is in the way I'll write the communication through sign language. Instead of translating what a person would really sign ****_directly,_**** I'm just going to type out how it would be spoken for clarity's sake. So if you see something and think "That's not how a deaf person would say that at all", that's why.**

**On a different note, I'm going to try and update this story at ****_least_**** once a week, hopefully twice or three times. The chapters might be a little short, but I don't want to leave anyone hanging. All in all, I hope you enjoy! (Also, reviews make the world go 'round)**

Nicholas Duval was clumsy.

Many doctors would agree that a medical cause for this would be the severe damage done to his inner ears during a car accident that happened while he was in the third grade.

Nicholas Duval was also 100% deaf.

Many doctors would agree that this was because of the same reason.

All of them, actually.

When he first woke up after the wreck, Nick remembered, it could only be described as disorienting; stumbling around the hospital room, calling for his mom, and not being sure if he was even making noise. It was a lot for an eight year old to take in, and the ironical deafening silence had been terrifying. For weeks after returning home, Nick would sit in his room, hiding away from the world he now felt so detached from. He'd stare at the clock on his wall and think "tick-tock, tick-tock" to himself as loudly as he could, trying to recreate the sound that had so often annoyed him in the early hours of the morning when he couldn't sleep, and now felt so lonely without. On especially bad days, he'd start screaming. He'd scream as hard as he could, and wouldn't stop until his teary-eyed mother rushed in to tell him that it was okay. He didn't do it because he was scared, but rather because whenever he closed his eyes, it felt like the world had stopped, and his mother coming in assured him that she could still hear him. That he was still real.

But Nicholas Duval's world had been silent for years now, and things were different. He had come to appreciate the silence; it was peaceful. He'd also become adept at getting his point across to people who didn't know sign language, so communication was a non-issue for him as well. Nick may have technically had a disability, but he didn't feel like he was disabled. Sure, sometimes he would miss things like laughter and music, but he was happy.

Nick was proud and confident about who he was, and had no desire to change. He knew he could handle himself out in the real world, which was what led him to beg his parents night and day for the chance to "be a real part of society". He loved his parents. He really, truly did, and they'd been supportive of him from day one; learning how to sign alongside him, and getting certified to homeschool; but Nick wanted out of the house. He wanted to make real friends, and go to a real school; even though the nearest high school that catered to deaf kids was hours away from his father's work, and didn't board.

So maybe he was being a little bit dramatic as he slammed the door to his room shut and threw himself onto his bed, sighing what he hoped was very loudly.

So maybe he was refusing to take "no" as an answer, and his parents had no idea how to deal with it.

So what?

He'd never asked for one single thing before in his life, always been the epitome of polite and well-mannered, and never disobeyed his parents.

Surely he could have this one thing, right?

At that moment the door to his room opened, and his mother peeked her head in, frowning at her son curiously before deciding that it was okay to enter. The tall brunette woman sat on the edge of Nick's bed, and stroked his hair briefly before turning his head to look at her.

_"__Nick, you have to understand…"_ she signed, and the boy rolled his eyes, turning away.

Apparently not.

_"__Nick."_ His mother started again, barely concealing her frustration, _"That school… It's a good school, it really is, and your father and I do want you to go. We want that for you. But we can't afford to move. Your father's work is here, Nick. There's no way."_

Nick furrowed his brow, running his hands over his face in exasperation. _"Could I get an apartment nearby?"_

The woman laughed, and shook her head. _"Nick, you're seventeen. I'm sorry, but no."_

The boy with dark hair that matched his mother's sat up, crossing his legs on the bed in an attempt to appear more business-like. He still wasn't ready to take no for an answer. It would have made the tiny woman smile how much like herself that her son was, if not for the fact that she was so certain she could only disappoint him in this.

_"__What about neighboring schools? Do any of them board? I could enroll at Cabroll's for classes, but board someplace else."_ Nick persisted, convicted to try every possibility.

_"__I don't think it works that way, honey,"_

_"__Why not?"_

_"__It's not…" _The hopelessness in the eyes of Adrianne Duval's only child made her take pause, and she conceded, _"Okay. I can look into it."_

Nick brightened instantly, frown pulling up into a grin as he shifted in place, pleased by the current change in affairs. _"Excellent." _He signed, a somewhat smug look on his face. _"Thank you, mom_."

_"__Yeah, yeah."_ The woman stood, smiling fondly as she ruffled her son's hair. _"But don't get your hopes up."_ She walked to the door, picking up off of Nick's desk the brochure for Cabroll's School for the Deaf that he had printed out last week. _"And for the love of God, Nick, clean your room. Your clothes have a home, and it's called the closet, not the floor"_

Nick waited only until the door closed before jumping up off his bed, fist pumping the air. Maybe, just maybe, this dream would come true.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Woohoo, chapter 2! (Hey, that rhymed) Okay, so, enter Jeff! The way that I'm going to write this story is going to be a continuous shift in perspective between Nick and Jeff, with every other chapter being written from their alternating points of view. I don't have a beta for this story, so I apologize ahead of time for any errors you might see. Also, I swear that I'll try to minimize the amount of time I spend rambling up here as much as possible. **

Jeff Sterling was a model student.

Many of his teachers would agree that this was because of his dedication, immeasurable creativity, and lack of a roommate to discourage him from his work.

Jeff Sterling was also a notorious prankster.

Many off his teachers would agree that this was because of the same reason.

All of them, actually.

When he was called into the principal's office on Dalton Academy's move-in day, he wasn't sure what to expect. With Jeff, it could be anything from a commendation for academic performance, to three weeks of detention for greasing the main entrance stairs. What he was not expecting, however, was this.

He closed the door to the large office quietly, carefully behind him, and approached the desk hesitantly.

"Mr. Sterling, please, sit down. And don't look so afraid, you're not in trouble. Unless you've done something new that I should know about?" The principal said, tone light, and Jeff breathed out a sigh of relief.

"No sir," he replied, taking a seat timidly. He still wasn't sure what this meeting was about, and the uncertain, almost nervous look on the principal's face had him on edge. "Uhm, if you don't mind me asking; what am I here for?"

"I'm sure you are aware that for the last two years, you have been one of the only students here at Dalton to board without a roommate?" Jeff nodded, and the short, stocky man behind the large maple desk continued. "Well, this school has received a new transfer, and after a brief consultation with the faculty, I have determined that it would be in everyone's best interests to move this new student in with you. Ideally, you could show him the ropes, and who knows? Perhaps an outside influence would keep you from dying the hair of other students in the middle of the night. However, I wanted your opinion before doing so."

Jeff frowned contemplatively. Though he resented the idea that the school thought it could control him -nobody stopped Jeff Sterling- having a roommate was actually an appealing concept. To be honest, spending so many hours alone was draining, and any kind of companionship would be welcome. But there was still one pressing question.

"Sir, I understand that, and honestly, company would be nice. But… don't you have the right to just… move him in? I thought you didn't have to ask me first. Is something wrong?" Jeff asked curiously, and the principal let out a long sigh, leaning forward and clasping his hands on the desk in front of him.

"Jeff, this new student of ours, one Nicholas Duval, is deaf. Meaning, communication and cohabitation with him might be difficult. Now, after speaking to his parents, we know that Mr. Duval would have no expectations of you regarding sign language or anything similar, but I still thought it best to have your consent."

"With all due respect, sir," Jeff began, speaking tentatively, "That doesn't make any difference to me whatsoever."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

And it was true. Though Jeff would do everything in his power to be respectful of his prospective roommate's disability, it didn't change them in his eye in the slightest. Company was company. A person was a person. Why should he care?

The principal smiled, and nodded in satisfaction. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear, and only what I expected from the top of the class. Expect Mr. Duval at some point early tomorrow. You are dismissed."

The blond boy stood from his chair quickly, eager to leave, but was stopped halfway through the door by the principal calling out to him once more.

"And Mr. Sterling? Do try to stay out of trouble this year."

Jeff grinned, crossing his fingers behind his back.

"Oh, absolutely, sir."


	3. Chapter 3

Nick could hardly sit still the entire drive up to Dalton, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and shooting ear-splitting grins to his mother over in the passenger seat. It was like his body couldn't contain his happiness, and was trying to spill out of him in any way possible, radiating out of his smiles and filling up the car.

The brunet boy looked up into his rearview mirror, smiling at his dad in the car behind him. Adrianne and Eric Duval had insisted upon helping their son settle into his new dorm, and so they took two cars on the trip up to be able to leave with Nick, allowing for him to commute between Dalton and Cabroll's.

In all honesty, Nick was a little terrified of living at Dalton, not only surrounded by people that he couldn't talk to, but rooming with one. The campus seemed nice, though, and the cafeteria had good food, so Nick had decided that it would be worth it.

Yes, if he could go to the school of his dreams, it would definitely be worth it.

Once the family of three arrived on Dalton grounds, they were checked in, Nick was registered, and all of them escorted to his dorm in a matter of minutes by the school's principal and overly-peppy councilor. The principal nodded and left upon dropping them off, but the councilor stayed a moment longer, turning to Nick with an enthusiastic smile on her pale face.

She said some stuff, but judging by her facial expressions, it wasn't important, and so Nick chose not to bring to light the fact that he had literally no clue what she was saying. Instead, he shot the tall woman a thumbs up and a smile, which seemed to satisfy her, as she clapped her hands excitedly and walked off.

Nick looked at his parents with a blank face.

_"__She does know I'm deaf, right?" _he signed, and his father's mouth turned up and opened in laughter.

_"__She was so excited to have a deaf student at Dalton, that she actually forgot you were deaf."_ The man responded, rolling his eyes before winking at his son.

_"__Also, she wants you to know that, should you experience any problems, you can come to her for help or guidance."_ His mother tacked on, ruffling her husband's red hair affectionately.

_"__Oh great, I always wanted someone I could talk at uselessly." _Nick snorted, keeping good humor. _"I really hope she doesn't think I can lip-read, because if so, I'm just gonna do whatever I want and say that she was the one who told me I could."_

His father laughed harder, and his mother shot her taller counterpart a half-hearted glare.

_"__Now, Nick…"_ she began, but the boy wasn't paying attention anymore. He had already stuck his dorm key into the lock, and begun exploring inside.

Unfortunately, his roommate wasn't there at the moment, so he couldn't have his parents help translate any formalities or greetings, but there was a note placed on one of the beds reading: "Welcome to Dalton, Nick! Or Nicholas, if you hate nicknames. Which would be ironic, not gonna lie. This is your bed! Other than that, you can put your stuff wherever you like, I really don't mind. Oh, and I'm Jeff, by the way. Or Jeffrey, if you _really_ hate nicknames. I'm at Warbler practice right now, but I'll be back in time to show you the cafeteria for dinner. Lookin' foreword to an awesome new year!"

Nick smiled as he read it.

_"__At the very least, I don't think I'll have any problems with my roommate."_ he signed, tucking the paper into his pocket. _"Now, let's get this place Nick-ified."_

After making the bed with his own sheets, hanging up his cork board, and rolling his eyes as his mother fussed over making sure all of his clothes went straight into his closet, Nick had been suitably moved in, with only a few more knick-knacks left in a box for him to find places for. Aside from the two beds and closets, every other surface in the room seemed to be communal, and Nick wanted to make sure he didn't offend Jeff by putting his things in the wrong place, regardless of what the note said.

_"__Well, son, I think this is where we say goodbye," _his father began, brushing his hands off on his slacks before pulling his boy into a quick hug, _"You be sure to text your mother and I at least once a week, okay? We didn't get you that phone for nothing."_

_"__Yes, and visit!" _his mother cut in, hugging her son as well, only more liberally in the duration department. Nick made a face at his dad over her shoulder before prising the small woman way gently.

_"__I will. I'll text, and I'll visit, and I'll make good grades. I promise, I'll be fine."_

_"__You better."_ Adrianne signed, trying to come across as firm, but failing miserably as her bottom lip began to quake.

Eric wrapped his arms around her gently, and whispered, "Addy, don't cry. He can take care of himself, you know that."

"I know," she replied, and pulled away to face her son again. Nick hated when they spoke in front of him if they were the only ones in the room, so they tried to limit themselves as much as possible. _"See you soon, sweetie."_

Nick nodded, and they exchanged an 'I love you' before his parents were out the door. It was strange at first, and he fancied that, to any other boy, the sudden silence would be lonely. But his new adventure was still just beginning, so the brunet boy set to work making the room seem a little more like home by hanging pictures and fliers on the cork board hovering on the wall next to his bed. As a last minute thought, he pinned Jeff's note up there as well.

Somehow, he felt like it was the start of its own adventure as well.

**(As always, I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews make my world go 'round)**


	4. Chapter 4

Warbler practice ran late for Jeff, as usual.

This year, Wes seemed to be particularly set upon winning nationals, and winning nationals meant winning regionals, which meant winning sectionals. So, the head of council had been working the show choir into the ground for the chance to do just that, running through the sectionals' set list over and over again, despite the competition still being months away.

In all honestly, Jeff hoped that the song selection would change. Two, or maybe even eight times, just because the idea of singing the same three songs over and over again for the next four months quite frankly made the blond want to gargle bleach.

Which is what he told Wes, but even backed by the rest of the council, the other boy refused to cave. So for now, meetings were reserved to practice for sectionals only, and convened three times a week.

In fact, Jeff had been so caught up in his realization of the masochism evident in his continued love for being a Warbler, that he had completely forgotten why it was so important for him to get out of the meeting on time today. He'd even allowed Thad to hold him after to brainstorm prospective choreography. As the decidedly best dancer of the bunch, the unofficial title of choreographer had fallen implicitly upon his shoulders, and what was an extra hour of musical torture to him, anyway? He'd already sold his soul to the Warblers, and in return had received the greatest and weirdest friends a person could possibly ask for.

It wasn't until the pair decided to quit because it was 8:00 and the cafeteria closed at 8:30 that Jeff remembered Nicholas Duval and the promise he had made to him. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on it halfway through in exasperation.

This was great.

The boy didn't even know Jeff yet, but now the blond already had a track record for letting him down.

This was simply wonderful.

He checked his watch again; 8:07. He wouldn't have the time to formally introduce himself and show Nick the cafeteria if he wanted his new roommate to actually eat, so Jeff made the split-second decision that formalities were lame anyway, and took off towards the cafeteria at as face a pace as was allowed before the teachers could call him out on running.

Expertly dodging conversation and general student shenanigans, the tall boy used his height to his advantage to reach around the other people crowding the lunch line, piling two plates chock full of food. Jeff's because he was starving from rehearsal, and Nick's because Jeff had absolutely no idea what the other boy liked to eat.

He heard Blaine and Trent call out to him from the Warblers' usual table, but spared them only a brief apologetic smile before he was out the door again, this time speeding off to his dorm on the second floor of the oversized school. Jeff had already broken his one promise to the new student today, and didn't want to be the cause of any more disappointment. In his eyes, the very least he could do was make sure Nick didn't go hungry any longer than he already had.

8:28.

Maybe he was being overly dramatic about this. It was just one meal, and for all Jeff knew, maybe Nick typically ate this late anyway. But nonetheless, the blonde couldn't shake his urge to make a good impression, so down the halls he raced, fingers digging into the styrofoam plates mercilessly as his nerves got the better of him.

Upon arrival at his destination, the room which he had so often called "mine" and would have to get used to calling "ours", Jeff stopped for approximately zero seconds before pushing the door open and barging inside. His eyes landed on the stranger immediately.

"Hey."

**Author's Note: Sorry this one is so short! It just made sense for me to cut this off here. I'm gonna try to get the next one (where they ****_finally_**** meet, I know, I know, I've been dragging it out) posted for you guys as soon as humanly possible. Thank you all so much for the support! Y'all rock B-)**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Okay, so I'm sorry about how long it's taking me to update this! Especially considering how short the chapters are. I've just been super busy with midterms and essays and responsibilities. Lame, lame, lame, I know. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's been fav/follow/reviewing! You muffins always brighten my day.**

A sudden movement out of the corner of his eyes caused Nick to snap his head up in attention, dropping the book he'd been reading onto the bed beside him.

There was a tall boy with shaggy blond hair that fell into his eyes standing in the entrance to the dorm, breathing heavily, and hands full with two overflowing plates of food. He seemed exhausted, and maybe a little bit panicked, but still kind as his mouth fell open in what Nick recognized as a greeting.

The brunet smiled timidly, and waved in response.

This must be Jeff.

The taller boy opened his mouth again, before shutting it once, twice, and three times more before Nick took pity on him, recognizing the familiar look of dumbfoundedness that people typically wore when meeting him for the first time. Slipping a bookmark into the current love of his life, Nick climbed off of his bed, and approached his new roommate with what he hoped was a forgiving smile as he gestured to the plates in the blond's hands, head cocked to the side in inquiry.

If Nick was telling the truth, he had started to worry that Jeff had forgotten about him, and was beginning to seriously consider wandering around the halls himself in search of food. It was almost annoying. Almost. But the profusely apologetic look on Jeff's exertion-reddened face as he passed a plate of food over to Nick had the eager-to-eat brunet forgiving him instantly. Taking his plate back to his bed, Nick pulled out the fork that Jeff had apparently stuck into his sandwich for safekeeping, and dug in.

He'd expected that to be the end of it.

When Nick and his parents had filled out the habitation forms for his co-enrollment with Dalton, he had made it very clear that what the school was doing for him already was more than enough; he didn't need to room with someone who knew sign language. By that train of thought, Nick had never assumed that he would be placed with someone that wanted to.

He had planned to just keep to himself.

But when he looked up from his plate to smile a thank you, remembering his manners last minute, Nick decided that maybe he could just throw that plan out the window.

Sitting in his own bed across the room, his roommate had procured a small dry-erase board, and was holding it up with a nervous grin. All it said was: _Hi_.

Nick stared at him, mouth falling open in shock, before returning Jeff's grin tenfold. Sure, dry-erase boards were clunky and slow to use. The brunet remembered that from when he himself needed them, still learning the language of the deaf. It took ages to communicate, but that was the thing. Dry-erase boards were a promise of communication.

Jeff actually wanted to talk to him.

He waved to the blond in response, maybe a little too enthusiastically, and paused for a moment. It had never occurred to Nick that he should have a dry-erase board of his own. He pointed to Jeff's board, and then held up two fingers quizzically, hoping to get his point across.

Jeff stared at him blankly for a moment, before nodding, grin taking over his face again as he clambered off his bed and dug through the desk. Only a moment later, and a second board appeared, along with a second marker, which the blond used to scribble a short message before handing both over to Nick, who took them gratefully.

_This is yours now_

The brunet smiled slowly, silly with what this implied. They could be friends, him and Jeff, and that was something Nick had never really had before.

Wasting no time, he uncapped his marker, and right underneath Jeff's message, wrote out: _Thank You_.

Sitting back down on his own bed, the blond shrugged, uncapping his marker again: _It's nothing. _He paused, then added: _Sorry about dinner. Did you get settled okay?_

Nick nodded, gesturing around to the little signs of him spotting the room: _Yes. And it's fine._

Jeff frowned:_ Not really. You must have been starving._

The brunet thought carefully, suddenly unsure of what kind of person Jeff was, and what kind of person he was expected to be. Should he be serious, cool, or was his normal self okay? What if Jeff didn't like his sense of humor? Nick frowned. What if he didn't like any humor?

Instead, he chose to take the leap, and scrawled out: _Maybe, but until I resort to cannibalism you're probably fine._

Nick smiled carefully as the blond read his board, and that smile grew as Jeff's mouth opened in laughter.

The other boy regarded him carefully; corners of his eyes still crinkled in humor, before seemingly coming to some kind of a decision. Jeff wrote quickly, handwriting sloppy as a side-effect of his trying to compensate for the slow manner of communication, and then eagerly displayed a board that read: _My friend Trent doesn't get in until tomorrow. Wanna go flip all his furniture over to say hi?_

Nick paused, scratching at his dark brown mop thoughtfully as he considered the suggestion. On one hand, he'd never done anything like it before, and he didn't even know Trent. On the other, it seemed like way more fun than it probably should to him. Logically, he knew that he could get in trouble for making a habit of doing stuff like this, and with the deal Dalton was making him he should keep a clean record, but the promise of fun and pranks got the better of him.

The brunet grinned mischievously, and wrote: _Hell yes._


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I'm so, so, so sorry about how long this took! I've just been so busy. I know excuses are lame, but I just thought y'all should know that I haven't forgotten about this story, and don't plan to anytime soon. As a side note, I don't have a beta for this story, so I apologize for any errors you might see throughout the run of this story. I don't know if I've mentioned that yet, but I thought I'd bring it up again. I get paranoid. To everyone who caught that little bit about Trent, no I wasn't very sneaky about it, but you have good eyes ;)**

As far as Jeff was concerned, he had fallen into a gold mine in regards to his new roommate. Nick was friendly, gracious, and most importantly, shared his sense of humor. Although Principal Haskins had placed Nick with Jeff in hopes of quieting the more "playful" boy down, it seemed that the tides had turned.

At least, that was what was going through the blonde's head as he led a nervous but excited Nick out of their room and two halls over to where he knew Trent roomed alone. It seemed as if, with the extra help, his gags could only get better from here. Flipping furniture was child's play; if he could get Nick on board, then he could finally fulfill his life's dream of putting their obnoxious councilor's mini-coupe on the roof of the school.

Not that he was planning ahead, or anything.

A quiet scuffle as Nick's shoe caught on the carpeting brought Jeff back to the present, and he realized that the brunet walked maybe just a little bit louder than the average teenage boy.

That was okay though, they could work on sneaking.

Not even a moment later, and they were outside of Trent's door. Jeff sifted around in his blazer pocket before producing a bobby pin which he had thieved from his sister, and Nick eyed him warily; expression changing from confusion, to shock, to awe as he watched the blond carefully pick the lock.

Jeff pushed the door open and gestured for the shorter boy to go inside, answering his quizzical expression and cocked head with only a smug grin. Nick stepped, beginning to explore the room they were about to wreck, and Jeff followed suit, closing the door after himself to decrease suspicion.

In all honesty, the blond had always thought that Trent's room was too empty, too lifeless to belong to his upbeat and sassy friend, the only real accent being a wide bookshelf pushed against the back wall of the room in between the twin beds. Sure, his room wasn't much better, but that was because he was almost never actually in his room. If at all possible, Jeff would pass his free time other places, hating the emptiness of his room. Unlike Trent, who could be found relaxing in his dorm almost 24/7 without fail, despite the fact that-

"You have about four seconds to explain yourself."

The sudden voice coming from behind him made Jeff jump, yelp in terror, and flail his limbs uselessly as he turned to face the not particularly amused face of Trent.

"Trent! Geez, man, don't you know how to knock?" Jeff said, trying to play it cool, as he ran a hand down his face in an effort to calm down after the initial scare.

"Jeff, you're in my room. Not yours," his friend deadpanned, eyeing him carefully.

The blond looked around the room nervously, searching for a way out of this situation, but only found a deeply confused Nick with worry clear on his face.

"Uhm, this is an interesting story, actually, but uh… I'll bet it's nowhere near as good as the story of how you came back to Dalton a day ahead of schedule." Jeff tried, cheekily, but Trent just sighed deeply, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

"Jeff, you dipshit, you saw me at dinner! Don't act all surprised about me being here after blowing everyone off to go eat an obscene amount of food alone in your room."

Well, if Jeff didn't suddenly feel like the biggest idiot in the entire world. He'd been so caught up in making sure his new roommate didn't starve to death, Trent's face in the cafeteria didn't even register in his mind. And now he and Nick were stuck in this situation together.

He looked back to the shorter brunet boy standing somewhat hidden behind the bathroom door, and frowned apologetically, when an idea hit him. Turning his frown into a smile, Jeff beckoned Nick over to where he and Trent were currently in a face off.

Nick glanced between them warily, before he seemed to put two and two together, and plastered a winning smile on his face, striding out of hiding to offer a hand to the now dumbstruck Trent.

"Nick!" Jeff exclaimed, gesturing to him as he approached, and the boy nodded to him with a smile, seemingly understanding at least that much. "Trent, this is my roommate Nick. He moved in just this afternoon."

The sudden shift of conversational focus seemed to have caught Trent off guard, but he took Nick's hand politely, offering up a greeting which the other boy just smiled and nodded at.

"Now, I know this seems bad, Trent," Jeff cut back in, trying to laugh it off as a misunderstanding, "But I was just trying to make sure that Nick here knew all the places he could go if he ever needed help with anything. You know, being new and all. No harm was going to come to you or your room."

Trent shook his head, baffled. Just when he thought he'd seen it all, he was getting dealt a completely new hand. "Okay, but you broke into my room. You picked my lock, you had to-"

"Trent, Trent! Buddy… Relax…" Jeff cut him off, clapping a hand on the flustered boy's shoulder. "I was just a little impatient. You know me, I get like that sometimes. And it's not like that's a crime, right?"

"Right, but…" the boy with the invaded room began, before stopping his himself and shaking his head furiously. "No. That's ridiculous. Nick," he said, turning to the aforementioned boy in frustration, "What really happened? And please don't 'Bro Code' me, because Jeff here is a monster. Any of his victims can vouch for me when I say that, too. Kyle's hair was purple for weeks."

Nick stared blankly at Trent as he spoke, watching his lips carefully. The second his mouth stopped moving, Nick simply shook his head, and pointed to his ear in the sign for 'deaf' with a nonchalant shrug. Jeff could barely swallow his laughter as he threw an arm around his roommate's shoulders triumphantly.

"Sorry, Trent, but he's deaf. I don't believe he has a single clue as to what you said," the blond said, tone sing-song as he began herding Nick out of Trent's dorm, "You have a good night, though, okay? I think we've seen enough here!"

Jeff was proud of himself, being able to hold himself together at least until he and Nick had successfully made their way back into their own dorm room before dissolving into a fit of laughter. He plopped down onto his bed, no longer confident in his ability to stand, and shoulders shaking from the humor of it all. A gentle tap on the shoulder drew his attention instantly to Nick, who was standing next to him, dry-erase board retrieved and back in his hands.

_So that was Trent?_

Jeff nodded, trying to rein in his hysterics.

_I take it he came back a little earlier than planned?_

Jeff nodded again, almost succeeding in bringing himself back under control when he heard laughter bubble up from Nick's throat. It was the first sound he'd heard the brunet make, and it was so light and pure that he couldn't help but pick back up and laugh alongside him.

_I guess we'll have to just be extra fast next time._ Nick wrote out, laughter subsiding into soft giggles.

Jeff felt among the blankets for his own dry-erase board, and snatched it up, writing, with an ear-splitting grin on his face: _The plan is everything_. He paused a moment, then tacked on: _Partners in crime?_

Nick returned his grin, nodding enthusiastically.

_Partners in crime._

**Hope you enjoyed it! And as always, reviews make my world go 'round :)**


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